Catching You Up To Date ...

The movers came on Wednesday, August 5th at 10:30 a.m. 2 26ft trucks and 5 guys. At 4:30 p.m. the loading was finished. Both trucks were full to the hilt! And both our cars were completely full too. Did they get it all? Did they have room for the storage unit that was full of the inventory and fixtures left from the closing of my store? No and No! But we headed out anyway. Took longer than the normal hour and a half to get there because the guys had loaded one of the truck's with all of the heavy boxes (Gary's LP's) and it seems it was so loaded down they weren't able to go over 50 miles per hour! By the time they finished their unloading and left it was 10 p.m. and boy were we exhausted! Thank goodness we had our RV hooked up so all we had to do was go out our front door of the house and go get in the 5th wheel and go to bed!

The next two weeks were spent unpacking boxes and more boxes. Are we completely finished? No! But the part of the house we spend most of our time in like the kitchen, living room, bath, and master bedroom are unpacked and it looks like "home"! We were really rushing to get everything done because on August 22nd was the day we left for Seattle and our Alaskan cruise! So exactly 2 days before we left, I finished the unpacking of (in my personal opinion just about the most important room of the house) my craft room! I didn't have the time to actually stamp in the new space, that was to come this week after our return. More about that later.

For now, I think I should give you the highlights of our trip to Alaska. We spent the first night in Seattle before we got on the ship. The Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) Pearl is only a couple of years old and it even included a 2 lane bowling alley! Can you believe it? Our cruise was a 7 day with ports in Juneau, Skagway, Ketchican, Victoria, B.C. and a cruise thru Glacier Bay. After getting off the ship, we spent 3 days in Seattle before flying home on Sept. 4th. Had a great trip! It was very beautiful. I thought you might enjoy these few photos: That there is one of the glaciers in Glacier Bay!

No, that isn't Rudolph - but it is a reindeer! We were also fortunate to see whales, lots of swimming salmon, a brown bear, an eagle and an owl! The above pics were both taken at a nature sanctuary, which was part of our shore excursion when we were in Ketchican. Oh, I must mention that our guide on this particular tour was very long winded and went off on tangents like a 15 minute tirade about mushrooms found in the rain forest! Yikes!

By contrast, the best port and our favorite shore excursion was the White Pass Scenic Railway in Skagway. Just figured out though all the pics from that day were on Gary's camera, not mine. So that means I don't have them in this computer. But believe me, it was incredibly beautiful with wonderful overlooks as we went 3000 up! We also did our best souvenir shopping in this port! The Butchart Gardens in Victoria was also beautiful, even though we did not have enough time to enjoy all the flowers before it got dark. We were there on a Saturday night, so we were treated to a fireworks show. In all the cruises I have been on, this is the first time I have spent my shore excursion with about 9000 local folks! Part of the fireworks show was a little cheesy, with what looked like sparklers on moving metal shapes. Those Canadians should come to Texas if they want to really see some great fireworks!

Our days in Seattle were spent doing the tourist highlights. We stayed right in Pioneer Square, the oldest part of the city, in a little boutique hotel. We went to Pikes Market, the Space Needle, and even went to a Mariners Baseball game!

NO REST FOR THE RETIREES ...
We have been home for 4 days and we have 4 days before we are off again! This time we have a 6 week RV trip planned all in Texas! Well, actually the first weekend is in Oklahoma at Lake Murray but that is because we are beginning our trip with the yearly family reunion weekend. However, a few days ago, we found out his oldest daughter, son n law and the 2 little ones are not coming. Disappointing! But we will still have fun with his other 2 children and older grand kids. So I know you are thinking, wow, what are we thinking? Well, you have to understand that both the Alaskan cruise and the RV trip were planned months and months before we had any idea we would be moving! Actually, the RV trip came about as a test to see if we love living in the 5th wheel as much as we think we do because we were thinking we might give up the house all together. Now that we have down sized our house, we won't be doing that - Yea! But the trip is booked so we are still going! The original plan was to be gone a full 2 months but we have cut out the east side of the state since we practically live in east TX now!!

So, the last 4 days I have FINALLY been stamping in my new room! Hip Hip Hooray!
I was going to post the pics of the cards now, but since I have written a book, I will wait and post those tomorrow!

Happy Stamping!
Tina